May 14, 2009

Ant Global: Sold Bookoff Shares to Strategic Buyers

Ant DBJ Investment and Ant Global Partners Japan Strategic Fund 1 LP, both top shareholders of Bookoff Corp. sold their holdings to a consortium of 6 companies. Dai Nippon Printing and its 2 subsidiaries will acquire 16% while 3 major publishers (Kodansha Ltd., Shogakukan Inc. and Shueisha Inc.) will acquire another 13% of the company. Bookoff is the leading retailer of second-hand books, CDs, DVDs and video games with some 900 retail networks throughout Japan. Its sales in FY 2008 was approx. USD 500 million. The announcement caused the share price to soar from below 750 yen to 900 yen. At today's close, Bookoff's market cap stands at USD 180 million. The Ant group purchased shares of Bookoff at 825 yen in March 2008.

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